UFC 113: Machida vs Shogun 2 Re-Cap

UFC 113: Machida vs Shogun 2
Bell Centre
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
May 8, 2010

The Main Event tonight is a re-match for the Light Heavyweight Title between Lyoto Machida and Shogun Rua. It is a re-match from their controversial decision last year in which the judges unanimously declared Machida the winner but most of the popular opinion said Rua should have won the fight. Josh Koscheck will fight Paul Daley in a #1 Contenders match with the winner going on to face champion Georges St-Pierre at a later date and also coach against him in the next version of The Ultimate Fighter. Kimbo Slice is in action tonight and Patrick Cote makes his return from an injury.

Middleweight Fight- Patrick Cote (14-5) vs. Alan Belcher (14-5)

Belcher's last fight was at UFC 107 in December where he disposed of Wilson Gouveia in the first round. This is Cote's first fight since getting injured in a freak accident in his title shot against Anderson Silva. The fans are solidly behind Canadian Cote in this one. I picked Belcher in this one but only because of the lay-off that Cote had. It will be interesting to see how Cote does after 18 months of not fighting.

R1- Belcher is throwing kicks early and then catches Cote with a low blow. Both guys are very active early and are landing strikes. Cote grabbed a Belcher kick and took him down. Cote went for a kimura but Belcher pulled out and was able to take top position. Belcher landed a couple of elbows and stayed on top until the end of the round. Cote sustained a small cut near his eye near the end of the round. Belcher 10-9.

"The inside leg kick. The enemy of cups all around the world."- Joe Rogan

R2- Belcher came out for the round without his mouthpiece and the ref briefly had to stop the fight. Cote landed some good punches to start the round. Belcher had to clinch to stop the onslaught. They traded some strikes against the cage and Cote got a take down at the mid-way point of the round. Belcher got back to his feet and basically did what in pro wrestling would be called a front piledriver as he picked up Cote and a pile driver type position and dropped him face first onto the mat. Belcher took Cote's back and Cote had to tap. Great win for Belcher. It looked like Cote was turning the tide until that pile driver.

"It is illegal to spike somebody on their head. To pick them up and drop them down purposely on the top of their head. It didn't seem like he spiked him. He went face first and that is legal. He just dropped him on his face"- Joe Rogan

Winner: Alan Belcher by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 3:25

Post fight Alan Belcher calls out Anderson Silva.

Heavyweight Fight- Kimbo Slice (4-1) vs. Matt Mitrione (1-0)

Both guys won fights on The Ultimate Fighter Finale back in December. Kimbo defeated Houston Alexander by decision in an ugly fight and Mitrione knocked out Marcus Jones ten seconds into the second round. Mitrione comes out to Simple Man from Lynyrd Skynyrd. Mitrione trains with Pat Berry, Eric Schafer, Jake O'Brien and Ben Rothwell. Kimbo gets a huge reaction. He should come out to Street Fighting Man by the Rolling Stones but he doesn't. Kimbo is training with American Top Team. Mitrione has a 5" reach advantage.

"There's something cool about watching a guy fight on Youtube in a backyard trying to avoid a satellite dish and a barbecue and then next thing you know he's in the Octagon"- Joe Rogan
"Kimbo might be the only guy who fights with an assumed name"- Joe Rogan

R1- Kimbo hit a right hand early and then Mitrione missed a kick and Kimbo tackle slammed him to the ground and then picked up Mitrione again and slammed him another time. Fans are going nuts. Mitrione grabs a quick triangle choke and Kimbo picks him up and tried to drop him down again. Kimbo broke free of the move and we've only fought for a minute and fifteen seconds. Kimbo had side control but is just doing nothing on the ground and Mitrione got back to his feet. Kimbo picked Mitrione up and Mitrione grabbed onto the top of the cage briefly to minimize the impact of Kimbo's slam. Mitrione goes for an triangle choke but didn't get it. Kimbo finally just backs off and let's Mitrione up with about a minute left in the round. Mitrione hit Kimbo with a knee and then grabbed him in a clinch and landed another knee to the head. Kimbo came in for a right hand and Mitrione kicked Kimbo's leg out from under him. Mitrione grabbed a choke on the ground. Kimbo looked like he was going to tap but Mitrione let the hold go to try and get a better grip on it. Fun first round. Mitrione 10-9.

R2- Mitrione is hurting Kimbo early in this round with leg kicks. Mitrione landed some good strikes with three minutes left. Kimbo tried to get a take down but couldn't and Mitrione landed a knee to Kimbo's side and Kimbo is looking like he's wilting. Mitrione is landing knees to Kimbo's side and legs. Mitrione has the mount and is landing strikes. Mitrione tried for a kimura but let it go after cranking back on it. Mitrione continued landing strikes and the ref stepped in. Mitrione really controlled Kimbo. Kimbo's grappling and wrestling is still just so rudimentary. I'm interested to see where Mitrione goes from here. He has some talent but both of his wins are against guys that really have no MMA experience.

Winner: Matt Mitrione by TKO (Strikes) R2 4:24

Lightweight Fight- Sam Stout (16-5-1) vs. Jeremy Stephens (17-5)

Stephens took out Justin Buchholz at UFC Fight Night 19 by TKO in the first round. Stout beat Joe Lauzon by Unanimous Decision in January (with one judge scoring the fight 30-26). Both guys say they are going to stand and bang. This looks like a fun fight on paper. Stout is from Ontario so he is the crowd favorite in this one. Shawn Thompkins is in Stout's corner.

R1- Stephens landed an early strike and caught a leg kick and got a take down. So much for standing and banging. Stout quickly got back to his feet. Stephens hit a good left that landed right in the eye of Stout and looked like it cut him. Stephens landed a good right hand. Stephens looks really good early. Stout landed a couple of body punches but Stephens retaliated with a big right hand that briefly floored Stout and Stephens then landed a knee. Stout lands some leg kicks and Stephens threw a big spinning back fist that was partially deflected. Good first round and they did stand and bang after that initial take down. Stephens 10-9.

R2- Stout lands some leg kicks to start the round and then got one caught and Stephens landed a punch as he held his leg which briefly floored Stout. Stout grabbed a kimura as they clinched on the cage but could not get it and the fight returned to the feet. Stout is very active this round and throwing a lot of strikes. Stout continues to land leg kicks and has slowed Stephens down. Stephens landed a couple of good strikes toward the end of the round. Really close round. Stephens might have stolen the round with the strikes he landed late but I scored it for Stout making it 19-19 going into the final frame on my score card.

R3- Stephens lands some strikes early in the round. Stephens grabbed a quick clinch and landed a knee. Stout looked like he landed a kick to the calf of Stephens and Stephens bent over in pain. Stout was able to land some strikes and got on top of Stephens and landed some elbows. Stephens got a take down in the last twenty seconds but Stout popped right back up. Good fight. I've got Stout winning the final round thus taking the fight 29-28 on my score card. I could see this fight going either way.

Judges score card: 30-27, 29-28, 28-29

Winner: Jeremy Stephens by Decision (Split)

Joe Doerkson vs. Tom Lawlor

After the Stephens/Stout fight they cut right into this one with no warning. Lawlor's hair is black and he has a Dan Severn mustache.

R1- Lawlor hit a left and knocked Doerkson down. Lawlor hurting Doerkson with strikes. Both guys swinging away and bloody. Lawler landed a punch that wobbled Doerkson but came in with another wild punch and missed. Crazy round. Doerkson started to go to the wrong corner after the round ended. Lawlor 10-9.

R2- Doerkson is the aggressor early in this round. Lawlor looks like he punched himself out in the first round. Doerkson took Lawlor's back and tapped him out with a Rear Naked Choke. Good comeback win for Doerkson.

Winner: Joe Doerkson by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R2 2:10

Welterweight Fight- Josh Koscheck (16-4) vs. Paul Daley (23-8-2)

Daley has defeated Martin Kampmann and Dustin Hazelett since entering the UFC. Both fights were stopped in the first round via TKO (strikes). Koscheck is coming off of back to back wins against Frank Trigg and Anthony Johnson. Koscheck comes out to Higher Ground by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Daley has a 3" reach advantage. The winner of this fight will coach against Georges St-Pierre on the next edition of The Ultimate Fighter and will then receive a title shot. They don't touch gloves. Koscheck looks like he has a bigger height advantage then what was listed. From an entertainment stand point I would like to see Koscheck as a TUF coach.

R1- Koscheck got a take down after a minute of feeling each other out. Daley got back to his feet and Koscheck slammed him back down. Koscheck staying on top but not really doing any damage. Koscheck took Daley's back and tried to grab a Rear Naked but Daley got back to his feet and hit an illegal knee to Koscheck. They ended clinched up against the cage. Koscheck took the round 10-9. No point was deducted, so a good piece of referring.

"Let's take a look at it here. Oh, wait a minute. He didn't even hit him. He looked like he toed him in the eye. Uh oh. We might want to show this re-play to Josh Koscheck. Josh Koscheck might want to take a look at that and stand up."- Joe Rogan
"Maybe it was a foot to the eye. Maybe it was a toe. He's saying it barely hit him so let's see what happened. The knee kind of grazed him. No. hmmm. And the Oscar goes to."- Joe Rogan

R2- Koscheck got a take down early in the round. Koscheck not doing much on top but is maintaining position. Koscheck again took Daley's back. Koscheck 20-18.

R3- Daley landed a couple of strikes and then Koscheck clinched him up against the cage. Koscheck got the take down with three and a half minutes left in the round. Looks like Koscheck is going to grind this one out in unspectacular fashion. Well I think it's obvious that if you are learning MMA don't go to Dan Hardy and Paul Daley's camp to learn wrestling and jiu jitsu. Koscheck 30-27 in a boring fight. Smart game plan by Koscheck.

Post-Fight Paul Daley punched Josh Koscheck after the fight. Daley just turned Koscheck into a sympathetic figure. What a disgrace.

"That was the best shot he landed in the whole fight"- Joe Rogan

Judges score cards: 30-27 on all score cards

Winner: Josh Koscheck by Decision (Unanimous)

Koscheck gets on the microphone and heels the crowd about hockey and GSP and then invites them to an after party.

Light Heavyweight Title Fight- Lyoto Machida (c) (16-0) vs. Shogun Rua (18-4)

Goldberg brings up a good stat. Shogun hit Machida more times in their last fight then the last 7 opponents did in Machida's other UFC fights. Machida broke his hand in the last fight and Rogan brings up the point that the hand hasn't been tested. In the 28 re-matches in UFC history the winner has won 13 times, the loser has won 13 times and twice it was a draw.

R1- Shogun the more aggressive fighter out of the gate but got taken down by Machida. Shogun quickly got back to his feet. Shogun pushed forward and landed a strike or two but got taken down again. Shogun again quickly got to his feet but did eat a knee to the body. Machida landed a knee but Shogun hit a strike and quickly mounted Machida and finished the fight. Wow. Fantastic finish by Shogun and it came out of nowhere. Shogun knocked him out on the ground and was already getting up to celebrate before the ref stepped in to call for the finish.

Winner and new Light Heavyweight Champion: Shogun Rua by KO R1 3:35

Welterweight Fight- Marcus Davis vs. Jonathan Goulet

This is from the pre-show. This fight is brought to you by Shogun Rua and his quick finish of Lyoto Machida. This is a fight I want to see so Thank You to Shogun despite him making me wrong on my prediction. Goulet has some crazy stuff going on in his hair.

R1- Goulet landed a quick head kick and then got a take down but Davis bounced right back to his feet. Goulet landed a knee to the body but in doing so he also ate a punch that wobbled him. Goulet went for a take down and Davis grabbed a guillotine and pulled guard. Goulet fought hard and finally popped his head out of the submission. Davis threw a leg and got taken down. Goulet landed a couple strikes. Davis got back to his feet but Goulet took him back down. Goulet probably stole that round despite Davis having a sub attempt and landing the best strike of the round.

R2- Davis hit a good right hand that knocked Goulet to his knees. Davis jumped on top and landed a couple of strikes but Goulet got back to his feet. Goulet is busted open. Davis landed something and Goulet just dropped like a ton of bricks. He landed a right and then a big left hook.

Winner: Marcus Davis by TKO (Strikes) R2 1:23